88 



ON THE TEETH OF REPTILES 



Several teeth and fragments of bones were found 

 in this irregular layer, but the larger and more perfect bones 

 were obtained from the clay bed immediately above the grit. 

 This was also the case at Telham, near Battle ; the patches 

 of "sea-sand," as it is called by the workmen, are only very 

 occasionally met with, but when found, are in general rich in 

 organic remains ; they are covered with a thick bed of clay, in 

 which large vertehrce, and bones of the crocodile, and proba- 

 bly of the iguanodon, are occasionally found ; but the richest 

 locality is in the immediate neighbourhood of Battle. A very 

 small quaiTy, which was opened north of the town early last 

 spring, has afforded rather an extensive series of teeth, and 

 bones of reptiles, fishes, and turtles. These are the principal 

 localities in the neighbourhood of Hastings, from which I 

 have obtained any considerable number of Wealden fossils. 



I. — Crocodile. Good specimens of the teeth of this animal 

 are comparatively rare at St. Leonard's ; but from Telham and 

 Battle they may be obtained nearly equal to the largest of 

 those from Tilgate forest. At Battle especially, they are par- 

 ticularly abundant : in some parts of the bed hardly a stone 

 can be broken without exhibiting portions, at least, of these 

 teeth ; and the difference in form which may be observed in 

 them is very great indeed. Besides those noticed by Dr. Man- 

 tell, as probably belonging to two or more species, a variety 

 is occasionally found much shorter and thicker than those 

 from Tilgate, though in other respects the characters are 

 nearly the same : in some cases the length of the perfect tooth 

 does not much exceed once and a half its greatest breadth. — 

 But the variety to which I particularly wish to draw your at- 

 tention, is one which appears to be ^ 5 

 extremely rare ; for 1 had only the 

 fortune to obtain two, during the 

 past winter : they differ considerably 

 from each other, but still have seve- 

 ral characters in common, and pro- 

 bably belong to the same species. 

 There may perhaps be some doubt 

 as to whether they ought to be re- 

 ferred at all to the crocodile, as 

 several of their characters point out 

 a connection with the teeth of some 

 other saurians ; respecting this, how- 

 ever, I leave it for others to decide. There is a tooth figured 

 in the 'OssementsFossiles' of Cuvier, from the muschelkalk 

 of Luneville, w^hich, in the length of the fang and partial 

 curvature of the upper part of the tooth, bears a very slight 



